The denesting of articles (e.g. fruit trays) from a stack of nested articles has heretofore been an operation normally involving a substantial amount of manual effort. In commercial fruit packing plants, the manual denesting operation is a monotonous, oftentimes frustrating and awkward operation. Various apparatus have heretofore been developed to perform some of the manual manipulations involved in denesting; however, such apparatus are beset with one or more of the following shortcomings: (a) the apparatus is of costly and complex construction; (b) it is susceptible to frequent breakdown and requires an inordinate amount of servicing and maintenance; (c) it is not capable of being readily adjustable to accommodate articles varying in size and shape over a wide range; and (d) it is not readily adapted to vary denesting patterns so as to coordinate with other packing procedures.